Welsh Crime Fiction

Plans for a town pantomime are thrown in the air after one of the actors is murdered. The victim is local gossip, nosy parker and aspiring manipulator Ivor Gladwin. Reviled by many and ignored by more, the list of people who could have wanted rid of him seems to grow by the minute. Despite having overstepped the mark in past cases, because of her familiarity with the individuals involved, ex police officer Fabia Havard is actually tasked by her boyfriend, and serving DCI, to look into the matter on the side.

April 1284. As a newly widowed lady-in-waiting to the very pregnant Queen Eleanor of England, Catrin never expected to return to Wales again. She was definitely unprepared to be confronted with murder when she got there - or to find herself face-to-face with Rhys, the childhood friend she lost 20 years before. Rhys had never intended to return home either, but a lifetime of war has deposited him right back where he started - impoverished and owing service to Catrin's older brother.

One morning Gwen Thomas takes a short walk with her Siberian husky in the outskirts of the Welsh town she calls home. She is drawn to a desolate area where, some 20 years ago as a teenager, she was brutally attacked and her friend killed. Disorientated by a sudden rush of memories, she has a fall. Later, recovering in hospital, she begins to recollect the events that led up to her friend’s death.

How far would you go to protect your own blood? The body of a young woman is discovered within the beauty of the Brecon Beacons National Park. Stripped naked; and posed like the subject from a depraved art exhibition. An innocent life taken in a kill that shakes the communities of South Wales to their very core. Twelve months later, and the remains of another woman are found. But this time the artist responsible has stepped up their game, the latest victim bled like cattle and presented to the world with her face obscured by a decorative mask, but for what purpose? Detective Inspector ...

Ritchie Gulliver MP is dead. Castrated and left to bleed in an empty Leith warehouse. Vicious, racist and corrupt, many thought he had it coming. But nobody could have predicted this. After the life Gulliver has led, the suspects are many: corporate rivals, political opponents, the countless groups he's offended. And the vulnerable and marginalised, who bore the brunt of his cruelty—those without a voice, without a choice, without a chance. As Detective Ray Lennox unravels the truth, and the list of brutal attacks grows, he must put his personal feelings aside.

Mercury Carter is a deliveryman and he takes his job very seriously. When a parcel is under his care, he will stop at nothing to deliver it directly to its intended recipient. Not even, as in the current case, when he finds a crew of violent men at the indicated address that threaten his life and take the woman who lives there hostage. That's because Carter has special skills from his former life as a federal agent with the postal inspection service, skills that make him particularly useful for delivering items in circumstances as dangerous as these.

Even the sins of the past can't stay buried forever... Detective Ruth Carter finds herself slap bang in the middle of a murder investigation regarding several murders in the local community. It soon becomes clear there's a link which draws Ruth's past and present together. Ruth's childhood friend Jenny was murdered thirty years ago, ripping her life to shreds and is one of the reasons she became a detective. Now it appears the same killer, who calls himself 'Prince Charming', is on the rampage once again. Ruth and her partner, Vince Conway have until midnight to catch the serial killer ...

Only the tide can wash away their darkest secrets. DI Graham Walker is just beginning to settle into a quieter life on the picturesque Gower peninsula when a call comes in. Even to the coast, death has followed him. The remains of a woman have washed up on the golden sands of Three Cliffs Bay. Her young body is twisted, broken, and Graham soon learns that hers was not the first that the local community have seen – not by a long shot. As Graham begins to probe into the lives of those around him, it becomes clear that the people that had so warmly welcomed him are less than keen to bring an...

Detective Inspector Ray Lennox has fled to Miami to escape the aftermath of a mental breakdown induced by occupational stress and cocaine abuse, and a harrowing child-sex murder case back in Edinburgh. But his fiancée, Trudi, is only interested in planning their wedding, and soon Lennox is cast adrift, alone in Florida. A coke-fuelled binge brings him into contact with another victim of sexual predation, 10-year-old Tianna, and Lennox flees across the state with his terrified charge, determined to protect her at any cost.

A mythical man known as Nightmare haunted young children for years. Until he became real. DCI Harry McNeil knows the legend all too well. Growing up in the Highlands, Nightmare was on his and every other child's mind as they went to sleep. Then, Nightmare claimed his first victim. A young girl, found dead in an abandoned cemetery with the words, I am Nightmare, carved into her chest. Two more victims, the same words carved into them. Then Nightmare disappears. Now, years later, there have been reports of graffiti being sprayed around Inverness and on graves in old cemeteries.

Former detective Ray Lennox is determined to start a new life. He has left Edinburgh Police behind for a fresh career and a fresh relationship in Brighton. Then he meets Mathew Cardingworth. Rich, smooth-talking and immaculately dressed, he is seemingly a pillar of the local community - yet he soon draws Lennox back to a past that he's desperate to forget. As Lennox identifies the links between Cardingworth, a series of violent attacks and the disappearances of a group of foster care boys, he is forced to ask himself: what must he sacrifice to expose the truth?

Juice is a man who contains multitudes: He's a top shagger; a drug-dealing, gonzo porn star; and taxi driver. As we ride along in Juice's cab through the depraved streets of Edinburgh, Juice encounters a series of charmingly filthy characters, all of whom present their own, uh, unique challenges. Has he finally met his match in Hurricane "Bawbag"? Can he discover the fate of the missing beauty, Jinty Magdalen, and keep her idiot-savant lover, the man-child Wee Jonty, out of prison?

In the heart of the Staffordshire Peak District, a sinister secret lurks beneath the tranquil surface… When nineteen-year-old Tilley McCleave disappears without a trace, the historic market town of Leek is in shock. Detective Jessica Ryan is assigned the case, but things take a chilling turn when she discovers a horrifying connection to five women who were abducted. Four remain lost, their fates unknown, while one survivor’s harrowing tale is etched into her traumatised soul. Haunted by her ordeal, lone escapee Heidi Dawson has spent years confined to a psychiatric hospital. Could her ...

“If you enjoy Death in Paradise or Midsomer Murders, you’ll love this series.” Amazon Reviewer An illegal rave. A dead man. An unexpected question. The death of a middle-aged man isn’t all it seems when his body is discovered near the site of an illegal rave, and Matt is tasked to carry out the investigation. Three teenagers up to no good are caught up in the hunt for the killer. What’s caused one’s amnesia, and will his memory ever return? When Elena thinks she’s helping Matt but makes an error of judgement, will he be able to forgive her or will it jeopardise their future? ...

England has a new King. Henry is the young son of King John. Guided by a Council of regents and the Earl Marshal he has a divided England to heal. When William Marshal gives Sir Thomas, Earl of Cleveland, the responsibility of making the young King a warrior, he sets in motion a series of events which, although they might begin to heal the kingdom will bring pain to the Earl and his family.

Sarah Gilchrist has fled London and a troubled past to join the University of Edinburgh's medical school in 1892, the first year it admits women. She is determined to become a doctor despite the misgivings of her family and society, but Sarah quickly finds plenty of barriers at school itself: professors who refuse to teach their new pupils, male students determined to force out their female counterparts, and - perhaps worst of all - her female peers who will do anything to avoid being associated with a fallen woman.

What Lies Ahead The loss lies where it falls... Cathy Morgan has recently suffered a breakdown, which causes her to take sick leave from her work as a ward sister. One morning, she is awoken by her husband Denzil, who has some distressing news for her. Someone she knows well has been murdered. Not only that, but there appears to be a connection with that murder and that of a young nurse called, Alison Marsh, who died some ten years ago. It’s Detective Sergeant Ruth Carter’s first day back in work after giving birth to her son, Jacob Not only is it her first day back on the job, but now ...

Charming film writer and director Geraint Denbigh is found lifeless in the garden of his Welsh home. It looks like he fell from a window, but eagle-eyed Detective Chief Inspector Matt Lambert soon finds irregularities in the crime scene. Before long he determines it was murder. Recently retired, the victim was writing about his eventful life and many of his former colleagues and associates could have had reason to stop him before he spilled the beans on their transgressions.

After cutting Aram Petrosyan's trafficking operation off at the knees, Detective Jamie Johansson and her new ward Alina are square in the crosshairs. Retribution must be had, and to carry out the task, Petrosyan unleashes upon them a man like no other. The Nhang moves without being seen and kills without mercy. And he's coming for them both. Can Jamie stay one step ahead of this deadly new adversary? She'll have to use all of the skills at her disposal if she hopes to survive and finally close in on the elusive Aram Petrosyan.

Detective Inspector Marc Fagan thought he had left the past behind when he departed Abergavenny, South Wales, many years ago. But life has a haunting way of pulling you back in, and when a chilling murder rocks the tranquil town, fate decides to test Fagan's resolve. In this gripping crime thriller, The Dead Will Beckon, Fagan finds himself confronting not just a sinister present, but also the darkest secrets of the town’s past. After decades of solving crimes in the big city, Fagan returns to his childhood hometown only to face an unexpected case.